Bob Mehr’s excellent 2016 Replacements biography, Trouble Boys, is being turned into a movie by Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard and his father Eric Wolfhard. Variety reports the Wolfhards will co-write the screenplay while Rich Peete will produce.
Finn commented about the news on Instagram, writing, “One of my parents’ first dates was to a Replacements concert. Then I was born!,” adding, “As Westerberg once said ‘Let’s let em down.’” Earlier this year in a Variety cover story, Wolfard hinted at the project, saying, “I’ve been writing a lot of music and writing this movie with my dad, which has been really amazing. It’s about a band that I think weirdly I have a lot in common with, a lot of the members. I can’t really talk about the actual band because I don’t have the rights officially yet.”
There was talk five years ago of Trouble Boys being adapted by Josh Boone, who directed superhero flick New Mutants, but that fell through.
Trouble Boys is generally regarded as the definitive document on ’80s Minneapolis cult legends, following them from their early punk roots through signing to major label Sire and their 1991 breakup, with all the great music, addiction, infamous stories, glory, betrayal and heartache along the way. You can pick up the book in the BV shop.
Trouble Boys will be the second collaboration between Finn and Rich Pete, the first being A24’s The Legend of Ochi, which was released this spring. Father and son Wolfhard previously worked together on the 2020 horror short Night Shifts which Finn wrote and directed.
Finn has been spending more time behind the camera these days, co-writing and co-directing horror film Hell of a Summer which was released via Neon in April of this year.
You can also catch Finn in the final season of Stranger Things which premieres November 26 on Netflix.